Just as in yesterday’s gospel, where Jesus proclaims that He is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life, today’s gospel of John is often heard at Funeral Masses in the form of the hymn titled: "I Am the Bread of Life." In the hymn, there is a reassurance from Jesus that if we come to Him, we will not hunger, and we will not thirst and that He will raise us up on the last day. Why is it, that so often in life, we can satisfy our physical hunger and thirst, and yet not our deeper needs?
We can look to find meaning, love, peace in our work, hobbies, charitable efforts, and of course, relationships with family and friends, and yet something or better yet, Someone is missing.
This sense of a void in our lives, when combined with hearing Jesus’ words, is meant to reawaken our awareness of the central role of God in our lives.
Jesus begins by saying that He is the bread of life and that anyone who comes to Him will never hunger, and whoever believes in Him will never thirst.
In these two steps, coming to Jesus and believing in Him, we’re promised that we will be taken care of, not just in a physical manner but just as importantly--in receiving God’s wisdom, our lives will be transformed -
…transformed into becoming more and more like God, seeking the good and the holy and deepening our love for God and each other, and in the process living life to the fullest.
In each Mass, we feed on God’s Word in scripture and Jesus’ Body and Blood in the Eucharist.
We believe that Jesus is God’s wisdom who has come down from Heaven and become flesh. This is why Jesus can claim that whoever comes to Him will never hunger, and whoever believes in Him will never thirst.
The final line of the hymn I mentioned earlier is the one that leads us to hope in eternal life with God.
It is the one that echoes in the church and is meant to reside deep within our hearts; it says, "….And, I will raise you up on the last day."
That’s the promise, the hope, and the place where Jesus wants to bring us to be with the Father, the Saints, and Angels,
…a place that we pray our loved ones who’ve gone before us are and where we hunger and thirst for more than we even realize.
Before the final refrain in the hymn, if you’ve ever sung along, then you’ve said the words,
"Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who has come into the world."
It’s this faith in Jesus that allows us to believe that He has come to raise us up each day from the trials we face, to keep going, with the promise that if we stay with Him, He will raise us up on our last day here on earth…and bring us home.
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